Business, international

AUSTRIA: STABILISATION IN TELECOMS MARKET

Article Abstract:

Lothar Roitner, managing director of the association of private telecom companies in Austria, estimates that with the price cuts announced by UTA , the fall of telecom prices comes to a halt for the time being. Rather than reducing prices across the board, telecom companies are likely to increasingly offer tailored packages at preferential terms in future. UTA is introducing a flat rate of Sch 0.88 per minute for calls throughout Austria 24 hours a day. Mr Roitner sees the first signs of consolidation on the Austrian telecoms market, where more than 50 licences have been granted within 18 months. Price competition is undermining profit margins and leading to mergers and acquisitions. According to Mr Roitner especially small operators without own networks should capitalise on their image before it is too late. M.I.T. has hired European Privatisation and Investment Corporation (EPIC) to look for a partner. Reportedly eleven companies, including the Telefonica subsidiary European Telecom, are said to be interested. European Telecom, however, says that it is interested primarily in multimedia providers. In this context, the RZB subsidiary Netway might be interesting to European Telecom. Also other telecom companies, including UTA, are said to be eyeing the internet service provider. Also other telecom service providers are increasingly seeking to expand into the market of internet service providers, whereas in the past the combining of fixed-line and mobile telephony was the major trend in the telecoms market.

Austria: Video conferencing increases

Article Abstract:

While many businesses are experiencing downturns since 11 September 2001, the video conference industry is growing. Martin Brendl of Telekom Austria confirms that the company has seen an increase in interest in its video conference service, which uses ISDN or satellites to transmit the data. Austrian firm Qubus is working on video conference software which can be installed on the user's PC. The technology will be cheap, because all the company needs to provide is a microphone and headset, as well as the Internet connection. However, it is not yet far enough advanced to be used for business purposes. The market potential for video conferences is expected to double by 2005 to EUR 560mn.

AUSTRIA: HOME SAVING MARKET IN 1998

Article Abstract:

At the end of 1998 the lending volume of Austria's five building societies amounted to Sch 168.53bn, down from Sch 173.24bn a year earlier. The year was characterised by slack construction market and low interest rates. The financing volume of the building societies declined from Sch 38.50bn to Sch 34.25bn, while deposits increased 3.5% to Sch 211.73bn. The number of new home saving contracts increased 2.1% to 907,181 contracts for a total of Sch 206.8bn. At the end of 1998 there were 6,077,792 home saving contracts in Austria, with about 5.3mn Austrians having such contracts.